Eric Raleigh (TV Series)
Eric Raleigh is a survivor of the outbreak in Season 5 and Season 6 of AMC's The Walking Dead. He's a recruiter for the community of Alexandria, along with his boyfriend, Aaron. Pre-Apocalypse Washington D.C. Little is known about Eric's life before or as the outbreak began. Eric is openly homosexual and grew up in the Appalachian Mountains with his parents who worked on the land, with Eric becoming comfortable with working in nature. Later in life he joined a NGO and lived in Washington, D.C.. Through working in the NGO he met Aaron and the two fell in love and soon lived together. However, Eric and Aaron were victims of homophobia and were constantly seen as outsiders. When the outbreak began, Eric and Aaron survived and arrived at the Alexandria Safe-Zone relatively early, becoming one of the original members of the safe-zone. Eric and Aaron became vital members of the community, even though they were still mistreated because of people's homophobia. Eric, alongside Aaron, became the community's recruiters and would go out for weeks at a time to bring in people from the outside. He is shown to be gentle, friendly, caring and honest. Post-Apocalypse Season 5 "The Distance" Eric is first seen hiding behind a vehicle in the distance as Glenn Rhee, Michonne, Abraham Ford, Maggie Greene, and Rosita Espinosa, members of the group he and Aaron have been observing, scout out the vehicles on Route 16 that Aaron spoke about at the barn. During his scouting, he finds a license plate for Aaron to add to his collection. Later that night, Eric hides under a car to hide from a herd but they end up pushing the car's tire onto his ankle and breaking it. He shoots off his emergency flare for Aaron but is rescued instead by members of Rick Grimes's group. He is reunited with Aaron in a garage building along Route 16. Eric explains that he was fine and that he likes Maggie and the others. He gives Aaron the license plate he found, but both laugh when Aaron tells him that he lost the car and the license plates in it. The next morning, he rests from his injury in the RV as the group completes the journey to the Alexandria-Safe Zone. "Remember" Eric is seen being helped into the walls by Aaron, limping due to his ankle injury. He then walks away, down the road to the infirmary and put in the care of Pete to heal his ankle. "Forget" Eric is in the process of being healed and his near-death experience convinced Aaron to retire Eric so that he's not in danger anymore. They considered that Daryl be his replacement since Daryl knew how to defend himself and knows how to read people. Eric's broken ankle is tended by Aaron as they both stayed home and didn't attend Deanna Monroe's welcoming party for Rick's group. Aaron invites Daryl into their house for dinner after he declines to attend the party. Eric and Aaron are amused by how sloppily Daryl eats, and Eric, believing that Aaron already gave him the news, asks Daryl to find a pasta-maker out on his travels so that they can shut up Shelly Neudermeyer about wanting one. Eric sees Aaron's face and realizes that he hasn't told Daryl about the news, so Aaron reveals that he wants to give Daryl a motorcycle and be Eric's replacement. Daryl then became close friends with Eric and Aaron. "Conquer" Eric is among the townspeople present at the community forum to discuss Rick's fate after his violent scuffle with Pete Anderson in the streets of the town the day before. When he arrives for the meeting, he has another chair set out and reserved next to him for Aaron, should he come back in time for the meeting. He listens to the testimonies and opinions given by both the people of Alexandria and Rick's group. Eric smiles at Carol when she gives her defense about how there are bad people out there and that Rick saved her from them. When Rick brings in a walker that infiltrated the safe-zone, he remains in his seat and isn't shocked during Rick's speech, unlike the rest of the meeting members. He witnesses the murder of Reg Monroe by Pete and execution of Pete immediately after by Rick, on Deanna's orders. Season 6 "First Time Again" Eric is seen attending the meeting in Deanna's house with Aaron about the quarry nearby holding a herd of walkers. After Rick delivers his plan of diverting the herd from the safe-zone, Eric is seen digging and preparing the wall to direct the herd down from the intersection. "JSS" Shortly after returning to the safe-zone, Alexandria is attacked by the Wolves. As one of the scavengers stabs resident Holly, Eric helps keep guard while Aaron and Rosita take her to the infirmary. Aaron tells Eric that he needs to try to stop this and has Eric stay in the infirmary with the others to help Holly. He assists Dr. Denise Cloyd, along with Tara Chambler and Eugene Porter, as they encourage her to operate on Holly and keep her alive. He assisted by keeping guard as well as giving a blood transfusion to Holly during surgery. As Denise attempted to save Holly from her wound, she started to flatline. Eric became upset and worried for Denise, as Denise then pulled the plug. Denise then demanded that they see if it's clear and leave. Eric then leaves with Tara and Eugene after Holly passes. As he leaves, he grabs Holly's foot as an act of comfort and saying goodbye. "Now" Eric is one of the many townspeople by the front gate, listening to the growing horde gathering outside the walls. He appears to be very concerned of the situation and listens to Rick and Aaron as they address the crowd. "No Way Out" When the herd invaded, Eric retreated back inside his house with Olivia while Aaron retreated to the infirmary with Heath and Spencer. After Carl got shot and Rick, Michonne, Aaron, Heath, and Spencer lead a defensive against the herd, Eric and Olivia join their effort. Eric along with Aaron and the entire able-bodied community defeated the herd in Alexandria, securing their home. Later that morning, Eric was with Aaron, covered in blood, along with the rest of the community outside the infirmary with the bodies of the walkers flooding the streets. Killed Victims This list shows the victims Eric has killed: *Numerous counts of zombies *Possibly numerous counts of hostile survivors Relationships Aaron Aaron is Eric's boyfriend, the two of them always working side by side as the recruiters for their community. The two care for each other deeply, as evidenced by Aaron visually upset when Rick threatened to kill them both, and again when the chaos starts within the group, and the flare owned by Eric is shown to be ignited from afar. Aaron willing to let himself be in danger just try to get to where Eric is. And again, when the two reunite, the two kiss passionately, as Eric says it is Aaron's fault he got injured, because he loves him. Aaron is also shown to be very protective towards his boyfriend, as shown when Rick does not allow Aaron to be with Eric since he doesn't trust either of them. Aaron warns Rick that nothing can stop him from being with Eric other than shooting him. Because of his near-death experience, Aaron wished for Eric to retire from the recruiting program. Eric agreed and also believed that Daryl would be a good replacement for him, and in doing so prepared a dinner for Daryl with Aaron. While Aaron and Daryl were out recruiting, Eric was alone to the events that transpired by Rick and Pete in the Safe-Zone. Eric attended the meeting in the community discussing the fate of Rick and his group. Eric left a chair open for Aaron next to him. The two reunited after Aaron's near-death experience at the hands of the Wolves - and were side by side whenever possible such as attending the meeting together, to helping make the diversion wall for the herd in the quarry near the safe-zone. When they returned to the safe-zone, it was under attack by the Wolves. Eric covered Aaron and Rosita as they rescued Holly and brought her to the infirmary. Aaron went to Eric and said he needed to go back out there and defend the community, and Eric complied with it, saying he knows Aaron has to. He later comforts Aaron after the attack when it was revealed that Aaron led them there, and Eric supports Aaron when he reveals this to the community. Aaron's hobby is to collect license plates from each state on an abandoned car so that they can build a mural in their house. While on a scavenging run, Eric found another license plate for Aaron to add to his collection. Appearances TV Series Season 5 *"The Distance" *"Remember" (No Lines) *"Forget" *"Conquer" (No Lines) Season 6 *"First Time Again" (Flashback, No Lines) *"JSS" *"Now" (No Lines) *"No Way Out" (No Lines) Trivia *Eric is the second openly homosexual male in The Walking Dead TV series and the fourth openly homosexual character in the TV Series, after Tara Chambler, Alisha, and Aaron. *It was confirmed through actor of Aaron, Ross Marquand, that Eric and Aaron met through working in the same NGO based in Washington D.C. and fell in love before the apocalypse. They were living together in D.C. and were among the original survivors of the Alexandria Safe-Zone. **It was later confirmed by actor of Eric, Jordan Woods-Robinson, that Eric had grown up in the Appalachian Mountains with his parents who were good with their hands and knew the land, that Eric became comfortable with the woods and nature. This allowed him to work well in the NGO's efforts in the Niger River Delta. **Among other concepts, Jordan also has said that Eric's last name is Raleigh. Category:Season 5 Characters Category:TV Series Category:Alive Category:Alexandria Safe-Zone Category:Season 6 Characters